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Musicologist John Lehman visits SarahCare of Campbell adult day care center every Monday and Wednesday to spend one hour with the elderly. As executive director of the nonprofit Senior New Ways, his mission is to enhance the lives of adults who are 65 years old and older in the South Bay by stimulating their memories with music.
Lehman’s “Vintage Music Therapy Program” — which he also leads at locations such as the Alzheimer’s Activity Center in San Jose and BridgePoint in Los Altos — aims to help those suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. He plays a variety of songs from his vast collection of music from the 1920s through the early 1950s.
Ever since starting the initiative, Lehman has collected data on his patients by subjecting them to memory tests. In September, the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at USC joined efforts with Senior New Ways to evaluate the data collected by Lehman and begin its own testing of those in the therapy program.
The video above takes a closer look at the program.
